Mouth spray syringe



G. C. REIFSNYDER MOUTH SPRAY SYRINGE Aug, 1, 1944.`v

Filed March 25, 1942 :inventor (Ittorneg,

Patented Aug. 1, 1944 UNITED STATE-s PATENT oFF-lcs MOUTH sitzsmmos Guy C. Reifsnyder, Allentown, Pa. ApplicationV March 25, 1942, Serial No. 436,132

1 Claim.

My invention relates to sanitary syringes, especially adapted for dental hygiene, to supplement the 'tooth brush by delivering forced jets of cleansing iiuid directed into inaccessible portions of the mouth and around the base of the teeth and particularly between the latter and the lips not accessible, or reachable by the brush, so as to dislodge therefrom any particles of retained food.

More particularly my invention relates to a new and improved construction of the spray nozzles for such syringes, my main objects being to provide for effective but harmless discharges of cleansing liquid jets directed to desired places within the mouth inaccessible to a tooth brush; to avoid hurtful suctions through such discharge jet openings during resurgent air flows in the nozzle to re-expand the spray bulb after compressions of the latter, which suctions might otherwise tend to harmfully draw into such jet opening adjacent sensitive mouth tissues or membranes; and to maintain at all times a comfortable balanced atmospheric pressure within the mouth by providing for free outward flow of air therefrom as required to avoid any sensation of built up pressure that might be caused during discharges of the cleansing jets, and to freely admit replacement air flow to the mouth as required to avoid any sensation of vacuum drawing of the mouth membrane during resurgent air flow therefrom through the nozzle to re-expand the spray bulb between compressions of the same.

To accomplish these desired objects, my improved spray nozzle is formed with separated ducts or passageways therethrough, one for delivering the cleansing fluid forced therethrough by compression of the syringe, and the other forming an air duct or passageway for flow of air from or into the mouth as required; the nature of such improvements and the manner of their operation being more fully described hereinafter in connection with the accompanying drawing, and its novel features specifically set forth in the appended claim.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a syringe having a spray nozzle embodying my invention, dotted lines diagrammatically indicating its discharge end positioned within the closed lips of a users mouth, the curved end being shown directed into the lower jaw, but may be turned to direct this end into the upper jaw when needed.

Fig. 2 is a separate enlarged plan view of the spray nozzle, the end curvature of the latter being ignored and the nozzle shown developed in a straight plane.

, said nozzle.

Fig. 3 is a View corresponding to Fig. 2, butl showing a longitudinal section and looking upward toward the top half of the nozzle,

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

As shown in the drawing, 5 indicates a usual flexible syringe bulb, having a single opening thereto through its reduced neck portion 6, which latter is adapted to detachably engage with the reduced end I of the spray nozzle 8. The nozzle 8, will preferably be formed of some suitable material such as hard rubber or a plastic material,and its discharge end'desirably curved, as

shown in Fig. 1, so as to be more conveniently and effectively directed to desired position within the mouth of a user. The bulb 5 may be filled with the cleansing fluid when temporarily removed from nozzle 8, or it may be filled by suction through nozzle 8, when immersed in a suitable supply container, during expansion of said bulb, after compression to remove the air therefrom;.and the proposed manner of discharge of said uid is by repeated partial compressions of said bulb with intermediate resurgence of air to replace the discharged liquid and re-expand the bulb, and the stem turned axially to determinedly direct the sprayed jets.

For my present purposes, this spray nozzle 8,

duced end 'l to communicate with the interior of Y the bulb 5, and its other end has lateral discharge openings l I, l l adjacent the closed end I2 of liver` cleansing uid, forced by compression, from the bulb 5 to spray outwardly through discharge openings Il, H. The end I2 of the nozzle 8 is closed so as to prevent harm to the mouth membrane against which it may contact, and the discharge openings are directed laterally as more effective in dislodging retained food, and further such lateral openings are less likely to-permit drawing the mouth membrane into them by suction Ydue to resurgence through passageway l0 between compressions of bulb 5. As ra further protection against such suction action on the mouth membrane, I provide an additional opening l5 for supplying air to the passageway l0, located in the discharge end of the nozzle rearward of the openings Il, Il, and adapted to be positioned within the closed lips of a user and to be engaged by the tongue of the latter so as to close said opening I 5 during forced discharge through openings il, Il. Such tongue closing of This passageway is adapted to deopening I is important, as preventing undirected and merely flooding flow of the cleaning fluid therefrom, thus confining the full amount and force of such bulb-compressed fluid to discharge through the directed openings II and II. Between compressions of the bulb 5, it is intended that the tongue free this opening I5, so as to permit air inflow therethrough, thus harmlessly reducing any suction through outlets II, I I during resurgence of air to re-expand bulb 5, which suction might otherwise hurtfully draw the mouth membrane into such openings. The directed outlets I I II are necessarily close to or in actual contact with the delicate membrane lining of the mouth and to the food products they are intended to dislodge, making bulb reexpanding air suction Y through them liable to draw into said openings both membrane tissue and food particles to clog said openings and injure said membrane, so that v air inlet opening I5 is essential, and when uncovered by the tongue provides for an adequate unobstructed flow of ybulb-reexpanding air into liquid passageway IB, and reduces air suction through openings I I I I, to a harmless minimum.

And as of further aid and comfort in the use of my forced cleansing spray, as above set forth, and to provide for free pressure-balancing inflow and outflow of air to and from the mouth so as to avoid any feeling of air compression or vacuum pull due to the forced spray of fluid into the mouth and the resurgences of 'air from the mouth between said'sprays, I provide a second duct or passageway 2l) within the spray nozzle 8, separated from passageway II] by an enclosing wall 2|, and extending lengthwise in said nozzle so that one opening 22 thereto will be located outside the mouthv of a user, and another opening 23 thereto will be so located as to be positioned within the enclosed lips of the user, as indicated in Fig.,1. This passageway provides for free flow of yair from the mouth during the flow into the latter of sprayed fluid jets, thus preventing any uncomfortable sensation of built-up air compression withinv the mouth that might be caused during the discharges of such cleansing jets. this passageway 20 furtherv provides for free air flow into the mouth duringV resurgences of airflow therefrom to re-expand the compressed bulb so as to supply, asr needed, any replacement of air to avoid any vacuum sensation which might be caused by such resurgent air withdrawal from the mouth. And it will be further noted that opening 23 from air passageway 20, is desirably located; as shown, so it may be enclosedV within the lips of a user and lie closely adjacent to tongue-controlledv opening I5, so as to directly admitV air inilowing from opening 23, to enter AndV closing air opening opening I5 and resurge through the nozzle passageway I0 to facilitate re-expansions of the compressed bulb, thus relieving withdrawal of air from the mouth and materially helping to reduce harmful suction through openings I I and I I during such resurgent air flow between bulb compressions..

My improved spray above fully described, supplements the tooth brush in reaching portions of the mouth-inaccessible tofsuch brush, and spray bulb 5 is intended to be operated in a succession of partial compressions, with reexpansion between the same, each compression delivering its entire forced discharge through openings II and II, by I5 with the tongue. Air opening I5, not needed nor desired during discharge of the cleansing fluid, is essentially needed between bulb compressions, and is then uncovered by the tongue to relieve suction of air through discharge openings II, II, and supply essentially all air needed to reversely flow through liquid passageway IIJ tol reexpand bulb: 5. Should thel bulb 5 be compressed when fully emptied of its cleansing fluid, noharm would result, and it may be beneficial in discharging forced air jets through openings II,` II, to act directly, or in connection with previously discharged fluid, to continue to dissolve and dislodge retained food. My syringe only delivers cleansing spray to the mouth, which must from time to time be expelled therefrom by expectoration.

From the foregoing description it is believed the nature of my improvements and the manner of accomplishing my aforesaid objects will be readily understood, and the specific disclosure may of course be modified within the scope of my invention as defined in the following claim.

What I claim is: In a syringe for dental hygiene, a compressible bulb forv receiving and forcibly discharging cleansing fluid therefrom, a fluid delivery nozzle forv said bulb having a closed mouth-engageable end and aninternal fluid passageway therein extending rearwardly from said closed end and communicating at its other end with the interior chamber of said bulb, lateral openings at the end of said nozzle communicating with said uid passageway inside its closed end, a spaced tonguecontrollable air opening to said uid passageway adjacent said lateral openings, and an internal air-flow passageway in said nozzle separated from said fluid passageway and having an outer-air opening thereto at one end and a mouth-enclosable air opening thereto at its other end in close air-feeding position relative to said air opening to saidfluid passageway.

GUY C. REIFSNYDER. 

